“My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction: for whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.”
The Tree
This proverb describes God’s own correction toward his people using the same fatherly language this whole book has been exploring, and it offers a model worth applying directly to your own correction of your children. Notice correcteth is paired directly with in whom he delighteth. Correction here flows from delight, not from irritation or rejection.
This matters because correction can easily be delivered, even when technically necessary, in a way that communicates rejection rather than delight, frustration rather than love. This proverb insists the two are not opposites. God’s correction of those he loves flows specifically from delighting in them, wanting their genuine good, not from having grown weary of them.
Examine honestly the tone your own correction typically carries. Does it communicate, even while addressing real wrongdoing, that you delight in this child, that the correction flows from wanting their genuine good, or does it more often communicate irritation, exhaustion, or something closer to rejection than delight.
Whatever correction is needed in your household today, deliver it in the spirit this proverb describes, from delight, not despite it. Let your child feel, even in the discomfort of correction, that it flows from a parent who delights in them, the way God’s own correction flows from delighting in those he loves.
Tend the Tree
- Notice the tone your correction typically carries: delight, or irritation.
- Deliver today’s necessary correction specifically from a place of delight in your child.
- Tell your child, alongside the correction, that it comes from delighting in them, not rejecting them.
Prayer
Lord, let my correction flow from delight in my child, the way your correction flows from delighting in those you love. Do not let it communicate rejection instead. Amen.
Carry this today
Correction flowing from delight, not from weariness or rejection.